Five steps to a green home

It doesn’t really take much effort to convert your home eco friendly. Neither does it cost you a huge amount. All you need is some positive thought and a little bit of motivation. Here are ten simple steps to make your home a green home

      1)   Make the most of sunlight – Sunlight is one resource that we have in abundance and that too for free. Make the most out of it. Don’t blind your windows with heavy drapes especially in the winter. Let the sunlight in. It is not only comfortable for your eyes but also helps reducing your electricity bills. Use solar water heaters instead of geysers. You will have hot water in almost any season, irrespective of the power cuts. Use other solar products like emergency lanterns, fans, lights etc. You can get them on subsidized rates through NEDCAP

2)      Consume less energy – Switch off the fans, lights and any electrical or electronic devices when not in use. Devices consume power even in stand by mode. In the summer paint your rooftops with cool cement. This reduces the room temperature by atleast 2 degrees. Cover your windows with heavy drapes to beat the heat. Use the cooling pads made of KhasKhus (vattiveru) wherever possible. They are not only environment friendly but also give nice fragrance. Pair the AC with a ceiling fan. This increases your AC’s efficiency.

3)      Conserve water – Use water judiciously. Don’t let the tap running while your brush or shave. Do not take tub baths frequently. Use shower instead. Don’t use your washing machine just for a pair of clothes. The minimum water required for 1 pair and 4 pairs would be the same. Same rule goes with your dish washer. Don’t drain the water used for cleaning vegetables. You can water your plants with that. Most importantly, you can dig a water harvesting pit close to your borewell. Divert all the rain water to this pit. These pits are a tremendous success in many areas which were once identified as drought prone. All you need is a 4 sqft land. I will talk about the construction of water harvesting pits in detail in my next post.

4)      Minimize plastic – Plastic is an inevitable part of our lives. But the damage it does to the environment is phenomenal. Try and reduce plastic usage as much as possible. Carry a cloth or jute bag for shopping instead of getting a polythene cover each time. Avoid unwanted packaging. Don’t bin the polythene covers after single use. Reuse them. And most importantly, never burn down plastic or tyres. The fumes they emit when you burn are really dangerous. Instead send them for recycling or dispose them responsibly.

5)      Recycle the waste – Nothing in this world is a waste, including the waste J. Recycle the dry and wet waste from kitchen separately. You can use the vegetable waste to make your own compost in your garden. Dispose responsibly those electronics, batteries etc that went bad. Use rechargeable batteries rather than alkaline batteries.

Do your bit to save the environment. No one needs to acknowledge your deeds. Sometime down the line when you look back at what you have done, the feeling is awesome. Don’t miss it !!

Money Sharks

In the recent past there has been an uptrend in resigning and re-contesting of the political leaders. The resignations are often being done under the name of pride – may it be personal, family or regional pride. There has been a number of such instances during the Telangana agitation, Jagan’s family fude etc. Each time a leader resigns there definitely will be a re election. In most of the cases the resigned leader contests again and gets elected. If someone is protesting for something and resigning from a post to achieve that, what is the point in contesting again for the same position in the re election, without achieving the purpose? Also, if you cannot achieve something while you are in power, how the hell are you going to achieve it when you shed it?

Each re-election is a burden on the economy. Crores of rupees of the public money go down the drain. It also gives a way for the politicians to make their black money white. Crores of rupees are being distributed to the voters during every election. This is nothing but pumping money into the system. This results in inflation.

The electronic and print media have lots of fun during this period. This is a good time to increase the TRP ratings and circulations. They get to cover hot stories and visuals of cock-fights between the contestants, galli leaders distributing money to voters, foolish supporters of each party quarrelling with the other party supporters. All these people never understand or acknowledge how big an impact these elections have on our economy. The country is facing much bigger problems than a Jagan’s family pride or a KCR’s Telangana pride.

There should be strict laws forbidding a resigned leader from contesting the polls for the next 5 or 10 years. With such laws, the politicians realize how big a loss it is. Not for the country but for them. That deters them from resigning their posts for any silly reason. If this cannot be done, the leaders of other parties shouldn’t contest in re-elections, at least when they know that the defeat is inevitable. We had a similar instance in the recent Kadapa elections. The sentiment for Jagan was so strong that any sane person would have predicted the defeat of the Congress and TDP in the by election. After the election result both the parties expressed a similar view – ‘we know we would lose, because money and the power played a bigger role there’. If these guys knew they would lose, they shouldn’t have contested in the first place. The election of Jagan would have been unanimous and this would have saved a lot of public money. Unfortunately we will continue to see or forced to see such incidents just because our law makers are the law breakers. The situation can be changed only if the voters become strong enough not to accept bribes and use their heads properly.

Obama bin laden

Yes, you read it right. The US has once again proved that its foreign policy is flawed and biased. Osama was found and killed in the back yard of Pakistan's military head quarters. For now lets leave aside how can the US or Pakistan not know that the world's most wanted terrorist is infact sitting right under their nose. But the question that arises is why was the body disposed off without showing it to the world. Did somebody actually verify if it was Osama? What is the credibility of any DNA tests that were performed? And on top of all why is the US not questioning Pakistan on this?

The timing of Osama's killing also raises questions. It is surprising that it took more than 10 years for a country like the US to get hold of a terrorist. This is inspite of knowing where he was hiding all this time. US has the largest fleet of spy satellites capable enough to capture images of even very small objects on ground. The US and and its allied NATO armies are much more capable than the performance they have shown in the recent past.

All these ten years the US was busy selling arms worldwide, procuring oil reserves and interfering in the sovereignty of different countries in the name of fight against terrorism. And the armies of this world police were busy molesting women, torturing and killing the civilians and other hideous activities in Iraq and Afghanistan rather than in fighting the terrorism. The world knows how many civilian lives the US armies has claimed so far in both the wars. This blood thirstiness of US is once again proven by the attacks on Libiya. Hundreds of civilians were killed in the NATO air strikes. The civilian unrest in Libiya is its internal problem. Why should US or for that matter any other country interfere in this? I am neither supporting the dictatorship of Gaddafi and Saddam nor supporting their barbarism. All I am saying is US is behaving no different. If the US always fight for justice, why didn't they interfere in the Egypt's civilian unrest?

After all the fiasco of killing THE TERRORIST LEADER neither the US, nor our impotent leaders are capable of questioning Pakistan on the terror activities they were breeding so far. If the US has right to attack a country just on the grounds of suspicion of holding bio weapons, why can't India have the right to attack Pakistan when there is concrete proof of Pakistan breeding terrorists and they are the ones who are responsible for 26/11 attacks? This is just because our leaders are impotent and are afraid of much more bigger world terrorist, the US. With his biased foreign policy and threatening behavior, Obama is no less than Osama. So he is Obama bin laden !!

e-filing your taxes

It is already mid of May and you would be busy planning for filing your tax returns. Some of you (especially the corporate employees) rely on TRPs or tax agents to file their tax returns. These agents charge you anywhere between 100 to 250 rupees. You give them your Form 16 and provide your details like date of birth, mail ID etc.  They fill out a Saral form on your behalf and submit the returns. Once your returns are filed, they give you the stamped copy of the Saral/Sahaj form in a fancy stick file.


Your really don't need an agent to do this simple task for you. You can do it yourself here. You can even submit the returns for previous years. Some of the agents don't provide this service. They don't even accept requests for the current assessment year if it is past the due date. 


One more reason for opting this is, e-filing is secured. You can never entrust your financial details to others. We have been hearing about lot of identity theft cases recently. So, why take chances?


Here are the steps for e-filing your returns

1. First register yourself in the e-filing site to use the e-filing option. 
2. Download the form (excel sheet) which is relevant to you (ITR-1, ITR-2) for the assessment year you want to submit the returns.
3. Fill out the form. You have detailed instructions in the form on what and how to fill. Most of the information would come from your Form 16 
4. Verify your information and calculate the tax
5. Generate the XML. Don't worry, you need not write any code here. The form has a button to do that for you.
6. Upload the XML back to the site
7. You will get an ITR-V from via email.
8. Sign the form and post it to the Centralized Processing Center, where your tax returns are processed. Here is the CPC address: Income Tax Department - CPC, Post Bag No - 1 , Electronic City Post Office, Bangalore - 560100, Karnataka. You need to send it only by ordinary post. Speed posts and couriers are not accepted.
9. You will get an acknowledgement on e-mail once the CPC receive your ITR-V
10. CPC processes your return and send you the IT intimation in a password protected PDF file. If you are eligible for any tax credit, it will be credited to your bank account. Only selected banks like SBI, Axis, ICICI has this feature. You can even view your tax credit in your form 26AS. I will give you more details on form 26 AS in a separate post.

Thats it. You are done. Isn't it simple?

Green gifting

Off late there has been a lot of buzz on Go Green. Companies, organizations, electronic and print media has been advertising and advocating a lot on this. Individuals often blame the government or companies that they are not doing enough to be green. But how are we as individuals contributing to the green initiatives? Many of us would have felt at some point in time like ‘what can I alone do’ or ‘I don’t have that zeal in me’. I feel the approach needs to be changed to get better results for ‘Go Green’.

Most of us live in a concrete jungle. People barely have time or opportunity to bond with the nature. Bonding with nature is one of the key factors in driving you to plant trees. We seldom get a chance to observe the beauty in a germinating seed, plant flowering or bearing fruit. It is an awesome feeling to closely observe a growing plant.

I can remember the first time I have seen this happen. It was almost a magical moment. When I was very young I once buried a bunch of corn seeds in our back yard. It was a rainy season. I was eagerly waiting for them to germinate. I used to go to the place I buried the seeds and see every now and then. The first thing I used to do when I get out of the bed is to go to the back yard and see if my corn seeds germinated. Nothing happened for a few of days. I was very impatient all the time. But one fine morning when I woke up, it was slightly drizzling and it was an awesome climate. I walked to the place where my treasure was. I was amazed to see a bunch of sprouts shooting out of the ground. Green little ones. It was an amazing feeling. It seemed magical. That was the first time that I felt bonding with nature. To this day I can vividly remember the color of the sprouts and soil. I feel gifted to get that opportunity. I bet many people out there wouldn’t have had this wonderful opportunity

Gifting is a part of our lives now. We give gifts to friends, relatives and acquaintances on occasions like birthday, marriages and anniversaries. Most of the time the gifts would be some fancy article, a decorative piece or some cards. Sometimes these gifts might not be really useful for the person you give. In some cases they would already have had a similar article with them. Instead of such gifts imagine you giving a plant as a gift. And that plant bridges the gap between a person and the nature. You are bestowing a green virtue to your friend !! People might not have land to plant the trees. But any home can readily accept a bonsai plant. It hardly asks for a square foot of space in your home. And in return it gives you lot more pleasure. What say?

Man and the market

Ever wondered what the similarity is between a human and a stock market? Well, I think both are similar in many aspects. Stock markets are very sensitive. Probably more sensitive than a human being. The market movement is like your moods. Your mood rises on hearing good news and falls on hearing bad news. Markets react the same way. Any small piece of info could tickle the market. It could be about a price hike, tax cut, interest rates, government decisions and what not. It reacts even to the weather changes!!

Humans love gossiping. So does the market. Not always you have genuine news. And in today’s world with media so much entwined with our lives, the news spread real fast, like a wild fire. Be it genuine or fake, there will always be people who are ready to spread it. Some having ulterior motives, some unknowingly and some just for the sake of it.

If there is a fake good news and more people are fooled (or fool enough) to believe it, they create a bubble, making the markets go bullish. And when there is a bad news, it is the reverse. As an individual investor your success partially depends on how you react to the news. Why partially? Because you don’t have full control on the market. If the market goes down, your net value might go down as well.

Investing in stock is like gambling. It depends on what cards you have and how well you play your cards. If you have a dealer like Harshad Mehta or Ketan Parekh, you have more chances of losing. So, don’t get carried away by rumours. Exit on a rally, enter when the market is stable. Use your head and not your heart. This philosophy leaves you unscathed in a volatile environment.

Here is a small story on how stock markets work. Thanks to the author and to the person who forwarded the mail (long live mail forwards!!)

A cold winter!

It was autumn, and the Red Indians asked their New Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild.

Since he was a Red Indian chief in a modern society, he couldn't tell what the weather was going to be.

Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his Tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect wood to be prepared. But also being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked 'Is the coming winter going to be cold?'

'It looks like this winter is Going to be quite cold indeed,' the weather man Responded. So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more Wood.

A week later, he called the National Weather Service again. 'Is it going to be a very cold winter?'

'Yes,' the man at National Weather Service again replied, 'It's definitely going to be a very cold winter.'

The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find. Two weeks later, he called the National Weather Service again.

'Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?'

'Absolutely,' The Man replied. 'It's going to be one of the coldest winters ever.'

'How can you be so sure?' the Chief asked.

The weatherman replied, 'The Red Indians are collecting wood like Crazy.'

Now you know how stock markets work!!!

Product Photography

Product photography is a type of photography where you take pictures of different products, say TVs, watches, automobiles, electronics and what not. Each type of product requires a different technique. But as in any type of photography, lighting is the basic thing that you need to take care of. Here is a pic of my Sony Ericsson K810i. I have taken the pic using my Canon Powershot 720 IS. I used a single LED light bulb for lighting. I placed a mirror below the phone for a reflection and glossy look.

You need to make sure the object is absolutely clean. The final image will show more than life size of your product. One speck of dust can ruin your photograph (like mine...lol). You need to hold your camera still. When you zoom the lens, one little shake will result in a blurred image. It is always better to use a tripod. 

When I walk, I walk

One of the first things you learn when you get into a software company is to forward mails. Many of you would remember how forwarded mails kept you busy for many hours a day during the initial part of your career. Most of these mails will be redundant, not so useful or just for fun. But some of them will be really useful. I stumbled upon one such mail recently. Thanks to my friend for forwarding it. I would now like to share it with more people, without forwarding the mail !!

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Stories can teach in ways that only stories can teach. For days I had held a question in my mind about how I can progress on the spiritual path. Last evening, finally, the answer came with the birth of this story. Through me, and for me, this story has become a milestone. A realization has become my realization. Perhaps, it can become yours too!

Years ago, when finding a god was still the most important quest for all, there lived a great sage. High above the mountains, iced by snow and sprinkled by cherry sunrays, was his little hamlet. People sought him from all over the world. The scaling heights, the brazen winds, and the wild animals, nothing could stop them from flocking to the guru; for they knew he could pave the way to the divine for them. However, after a few days, many started feeling restless and left.

The reason?

The guru hardly spoke. He just carried on in his usual fashion. For several, this was hard to deal with.

The great sage had a merry laughter and a twinkle in his eye. He seemed ancient and yet, just like a child. He never invited anyone and he never refused anyone. Yet, when someone did come, he made sure his home was their home. Many came, many went. A small group of ten, stayed behind.

The guru knew he had finally filtered the ‘seekers’ from the ‘questioners’. This was the group who had left everything to find god, and they wouldn’t return knowing about god, they would return knowing god. The saint did all that he needed to in a day while the group followed around, hoping to get a clue as to how they too could be in constant, blissful union with their lord.

In the evenings the sage would sit under a tree, while the group gathered around him. Some put their head in his lap and he caressed them lovingly, while others were content to just watch him from afar. The seekers asked questions. Sometimes the guru would answer at length, and sometimes, he would choose silence to speak. Either way, the night would rise only when all the doubts had drowned.

One of those twilights, the youngest girl in the group, Mira, asked him “Gurudeva, tell me the secret of your divinity. I want to know”. Knowing that the words that would follow could change their lives, the entire group moved closer. Silence fell over them as the guru replied. “ when I walk, I walk.” The seekers moved closer still. They wanted to know more. They wanted to transform. Something told them that the answer would be revealed. The guru, however, spoke no more. He just sat with his eye skywards, wondering at the stars.

The seekers were disappointed. They had thought some profound, complex, secret would be revealed. But no, the sage had just spoken a single sentence: “when I walk, I walk”.

What could this mean? All of them went to sleep that night with questions chasing his words around.. answers nowhere in sight.

The next day guru went about his day as always and the seekers followed step. As he plucked the weeds out of his tiny garden, the group helped. The guru smiled to himself as he sensed a peculiar restlessness in the air. However, no one said anything. They already learned that answers would come, only when answers would come. Usually one amongst them would stumble upon the answer to the guru’s words and share his realization with all others. The group would internalize it, ponder upon it, and wait until the realization became a part of them. Today, however, revelation dint seem to be in mood of befriending any of them.

The guru chuckled silently and asked the young girl, “Mira, what are you doing right now?”

Surprised by guru’s question, she replied, “helping you to pluck out the weeds gurudeva!”

He smiled and asked, “what else?”

Mira spontaneously replied, “nothing else!”

The guru asked, “are you sure you aren’t doing anything else?”

Mira thought for a minute and said, “ well, I am thinking about your words.. “

“and?” asked the guru

“umm.. wondering what is there for dinner tonight! “ replied Mira with a giggle.

The guru smiled and said, “when I am plucking weeds, I am plucking weeds.” And with that he went back to doing his chore with the same intensity that he meditated, or ate, or watched a sunrise or spoke to them.

The entire group spontaneously burst into smiles. This was the first time that they had all understood something together. Restlessness changed into excitement, and within moments, excitement became peace. The little group of eleven – one master and ten disciples – plucked weeds, as they plucked weeds, that afternoon.

Ever since this story wrote itself out, the very perspective with which I look at life changed. Queen of multitasking, I believed I should not waste a single moment of my life. I packed in as much as I could every second. I watched movies while exercising. I had breakfast while reading books. I enjoyed a sunrise while chatting on the phone at any given point I was involved in at least two ir three activities.. and I wondered why I wasn’t enjoying any? Why wasn’t I feeling completely, absolutely alive? Why?

“when I walk, I walk”. So simply answered the master! Since yesterday I have been doing this. When I ate, I ate. When I was with my husband arun, I was with arun. When I listened to music, I listened to music. Initially it almost appeared too difficult to do just a single thing at a time. I felt restless. I felt irritated. But I dint give up. As I pursued a single activity long enough and gave myself to it completely, I realized something within me suddenly shifted. No longer was I living in the past or the future; rather I fell into the coveted ‘now’, and the ‘as is’, the ‘present continuous’.

The beauty about ‘this moment’ is that when you are in it, completely and absolutely, nothing else matters. The updaid bills, the chores of tomorrow, the aching knee, the worrisome child- in the now, none of these exist. All that exists is the activity that you are involved in and you. Get immersed even further, and nothing but the activity remains. You dissolve. And in those moments, when there is no ‘you’, what is, is. And that ‘is’ is god! It sounds almost too simple to be true, doent it? Too commonplace ? I always believed finding god was a treacherous, arduous, difficult process… however, I now realize that it is so simple that we miss it. The purpose of every religious chants, prayers and meditations is just this : to make you forget you, so that you can remember god. As the limiting boundary of ‘I’ erases, what is left behind is the infinite: life, as it is, God, as it is.

I always wondered what is the difference between spiritually enlightened masters and me? Now, I know. Even while meditating I am thinking, planning, scratching and wondering. A master even while thinking, planning, scratching and wondering is meditating. If I can learn to do what I am doing, and immerse myself into it completely, meditation will cease to remain a part of my day. It will become a part of me. And gradually, it will become me…

Usually I write while sipping a masala chai, chatting on facebook and checking my mails. Today as I write, I write. I can feel the difference. I can almost experience you beside me, a friend, a fellow seeker, as together we live this message at various different points of our day: “when I walk, I walk”.

Portrait photograpy

This is one of the recent pics that I shot on my Canon Powershot 720 IS camera.

This shot is taken in aperture priority, 4.8f and 6X zoom.

The foreground is clear and the background is blurred. This is one of the techniques used in portrait photography.

Yet to learn more complex photography tricks !!

Keep watching this space for more photos :-)

Water

DRINK WATER ON EMPTY STOMACH

It is popular in Japan today to drink water immediately after waking up every morning. Furthermore, scientific tests have proven its value. We publish below a description of use of water for our readers. For old and serious diseases as well as modern illnesses the water treatment had been found successful by a Japanese medical society as a 100% cure for the following diseases:

Headache, body ache, heart system, arthritis, fast heart beat, epilepsy, excess fatness, bronchitis asthma, TB, meningitis, kidney and urine diseases, vomiting, gastritis, diarrhea, piles, diabetes, constipation, all eye diseases, womb, cancer and menstrual disorders, ear nose and throat diseases.

METHOD OF TREATMENT

1. As you wake up in the morning before brushing teeth, drink 4 x 160ml glasses of water

2. Brush and clean the mouth but do not eat or drink anything for 45 minute

3. After 45 minutes you may eat and drink as normal.

4. After 15 minutes of breakfast, lunch and dinner do not eat

or drink anything for 2 hours

5. Those who are old or sick and are unable to drink 4 glasses of water at the beginning may commence by taking little water and gradually increase it to 4 glasses per day.

6. The above method of treatment will cure diseases of the sick and others can enjoy a healthy life.

The following list gives the number of days of treatment required to cure/control/ reduce main diseases:

1. High Blood Pressure (30 days)

2. Gastric (10 days)

3. Diabetes (30 days)

4. Constipation (10 days)

5. Cancer (180 days)

6. TB (90 days)

7. Arthritis patients should follow the above treatment only for 3 days in the 1st week, and from 2nd week onwards – daily.

This treatment method has no side effects, however at the commencement of treatment you may have to urinate a few times.

It is better if we continue this and make this procedure as a routine work in our life. Drink Water and Stay healthy and Active.

This makes sense .. The Chinese and Japanese drink hot tea with their meals ..not cold water. Maybe it is time we adopt their drinking habit while eating!!! Nothing to lose, everything to gain...

For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you.

It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion.

Once this "sludge" reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine.

Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.

A serious note about heart attacks:

· Women should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting,

· Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line.

· You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack.

· Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms.

· 60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up.

· Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know, the better chance we could survive...

If everyone who reads this post, sends it to everyone they know, you can be sure that we'll save at least one life.

To hell with the world cup...

Recent article known to be from Narendra Shekhawat............

Yes, you read it right; to hell with the World Cup; to hell with the celebrations; to hell with all the free land and money being showered by different governments on the players. How can I jump, scream, have gallons of beer and cheer for the nation when a few kilometres away the farmers and feeders of my country are taking their own lives in hordes?


Do you know that, on average, 47 farmers have been committing suicide every single day in the past 16 years in our shining India — the next economic power, progressive with nine per cent growth?


Last month, on March 5, Friday evening, when Bangalore's watering holes were getting filled up, when all the DJs were blaring out deafening music, when we were busy discussing India's chances at the World Cup, sitting in CCDs and Baristas — just 100 km away from Bangalore, Swamy Gowda and Vasanthamma, a young farmer couple, hanged themselves, leaving their three very young children to fend for themselves or, most likely, die of malnutrition.


Why did they do it? Were they fighting? No. Were they drunkards? No. Did they have incurable diseases? No! Then WHY? Because they were unable to repay a loan of Rs 80,000 (a working IT couple's one month salary? 2-3 months EMI?) for years, which had gradually increased to Rs. 1.2 lakh. Because they knew that now they would never be able to pay it back. Because they were hurt. Hurt by our government which announced a huge reduction in import duty for silk in this year's budget (from 30 per cent to 5 per cent).They were struggling silk farmers and instead of help from the government, they get this! Decrease in import duty means the markets will now be flooded with cheap Chinese silk (as everything else!) and our own farmers will be left in the lurch.


On average, 17,000 farmers have been committing suicide every year, for the past 15 years on the trot. Can you believe it? Most of us wouldn't know this fact. Why? Because, our great Indian media, the world's biggest media, are not interested in reporting this! Why? Because they are more interested in covering fashion week extravaganzas. They are more interested in ‘why team India was not practising when Pakistanis were sweating it out in stadium on the eve of the match?' They are more interested in Poonam Pandey.


The media are supposed to be the third eye of democracy and also called the fourth estate, but now they have become real estate. Pure business.


So any attention from the media is out of the question. Who is left then? The government? But we all know how it works. The other day, I was passing by Vidhan Soudha in Bangalore and happened to read the slogan written at the entrance, “Government work is god's work”. Now I know why our government has left all its work to god!


Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa announced plots for all the players. But land? In Bangalore? You must be kidding, Mr. C.M.. So he retracts and now wants to give money. But where will it come from? Taxes, yours and mine. Don't the poor farmers need the land or money more than those players who are already earning in crores?


A government-owned bank will give you loan at six per cent interest rate if you are buying a Mercedes but if a poor farmer wants to buy a tractor, do you know how much it is charging him? Fifteen per cent! Look at the depths of inequality. Water is Rs. 15 a litre and a SIM card is for free! For how long can we bite the hand that is feeding us? The recent onion price fiasco was just a trailer. Picture abhi baaki hai doston!


In 2008, Lakme India fashion show venue was in a Mumbai five-star hotel and was covered by 500 journalists and the theme was ‘Cotton'. A few hours drive from there, cotton farmers were committing suicide, 4 or 5, everyday! How many TV journalists covered this? Zero!


Sixty-seventy per cent of India's population is living on less than Rs. 20 a day. A bottle of Diet coke for us? The electricity used in a day-night match could help a farmer irrigate his fields for more than a few weeks! Do you know that loadshedding is also class dependent? Two hours in metros, 4 in towns and 8 in villages. Now, who needs electricity more? A farmer to look after his crop day and night, irrigate, pump water and use machines or a few bored, young professionals with disposable incomes, to log on to Facebook and watch IPL?


How can we splurge thousands on our birthday parties and zoom past in our AC vehicles and sit in cushy chairs in our AC offices and plan a weekend trip to Coorg when on the way, in those small villages, just a few minutes' walk from the roads, someone might be consuming pesticide or hanging himself from a tree for just Rs.10, 000? How can we?


There was much panic when there was swine flu. Every single death in the country was reported second by second, minute by minute. Why? Because it directly affected our salaried, ambitious, tech-savvy, middle-class. So there were masks, special relief centres, enquiry centres set up by government to please this section. On the other hand, 47 people are dying, every single day for the past 15 years. Anybody cared to do anything?


It has been observed that within months of a farmer taking his life, his wife follows, either by poisoning the kids first or leaving them on their own. In Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, a distressed woman farmer went to the government seed shop, bought a bottle of pesticide, on credit, went home and drank it. She was under debt for most of her life and now — even her death was on credit!


Centuries ago, there was a Roman emperor, called Nero. He was a strong ruler and also very fond of parties, art, poetry, drinking and a life full of pleasures. Once he decided to organise a grand party and invited all poets, writers, dancers, painters, artists, intellectuals and thinkers of society. Everybody was having a great time eating, drinking, laughing, and socialising. The party was at its peak when it started getting dark. Nero wanted the party to go on. So he ordered and got all the arrested criminals, who were in his jails, around the garden and put them on fire! Burnt them alive, so that there was enough light for the guests to keep on enjoying! The guests had a gala time though they knew the cost of their enjoyment. Now, what kind of conscience those guests had?


Nero's guests


What is happening in our country is not different from Nero's party. We, the middle-class-young-well-earning-mall-hopping-IPL-watching and celebrating-junta are Nero's guests enjoying at the cost of our farmers. Every budget favours the already rich. More exemptions are being given to them at the cost of grabbing the land of our farmers in the name of SEZs, decrease in import duties in the name of neo-liberal policies, increase in the loan interest rates if the product is not worth lakhs and crores. Yes, that's what we are, Nero's guests!


I'm not against celebrations. I'm not against cricket. I'm not against World Cup. I would be the first person to scream, celebrate and feel proud of any of India's achievements but, only if all fellow countrymen, farmers, villagers also stand with me and cheer; only if they do not take their own lives ruthlessly, only if there is no difference between interest rates for a Mercedes and a tractor. That would be the day I also zoom past on a bike, post-Indian win, with an Indian Flag in hand and screaming Bharat Mata Ki Jai. But no, not today. Not at the cost of my feeders. Until then, this is what I say. To hell with your malls. To hell with your IPL. To hell with your World Cup. And to hell with your celebrations.